Introduction

In the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, most observers were puzzled when elements of Ṣaddām Ḥusayn’s apparently secular Baʿth regime organized a religious Sufi militia as the military spearhead of the Baʿthist insurgency. The so-called “Army of the Men of the Naqshbandi Path” was commanded by Saddam’s former right-hand man, ʿIzzat Ibrāhīm al-Dūrī, who appeared to be the central link between the former regime and Sufis in Iraq. But what has a secular regime such as the Baʿth got to do with Sufism? The introduction begins with this puzzle that still awaits scholarly scrutiny. It discusses the almost complete neglect of Sufi Islam in previous Iraq studies, and it argues that it is essential to take a two-pronged approach to politics and Sufi Islam and to treat both of them equally if one wants to solve this puzzle.